Thieves steal vital diagnostic equipment from Greek hospital

ATHENS, Greece – Greek police are looking for thieves who stole vital medical diagnostic equipment worth some €400,000 ($438,000) from an Athens state cancer hospital.

Police say seven pieces of machinery were taken early Monday. Hospital officials said much of the state-of-the-art equipment had been bought with the help of private donations, and that doctors would now have to make do with older machinery.

Greece’s state health system has been hit hard by deep spending cuts imposed under the country’s international bailout program.

The country has been kept afloat by rescue loans since 2010. In exchange for the bailout funds, successive governments have slashed spending across the board, hiked taxes and implemented cutting market reforms.